Battle of Earth
The Battle of Earth was a conflict between the Superman Family and the forces of Brainiac. Highlighting the battle was the struggle that Superman faced to control himself and not give in to the Doomsday Virus. The Doomsday Virus combatted Superman's nature and forced him to question the ideals that he held above all else: killing and wanton destruction. It forced him to try and keep his most dangerous attribute in check, his anger, for by unleashing his anger he would effectively become perhaps the most dangerous being that ever lived. Thus, the Battle of Earth was more than just a battle for a planet or the soul of Superman, but rather, it was a battle for the entire unvierse. Background Doomsday The buildup to the Battle of Earth began with a quest to stop the Multitude initiated by Vril Dox of Yod-Colu. Dox soon became just a vessel for a larger entity, the Collector of Worlds, and as one of many vessels, the body that was once Dox's, became the body of Brainiac after Brainwyrm was called so on Kandor. Krypton then exploded with few survivors, including Kal-El. The Brainiac vessel then visited the ruins of Argo City, found a survivor, Zor-El, and transformed him into the Cyborg Superman. Growing up on Earth, another planet on the list of the Multitude, Kal-El became Clark Kent and moonlighted as the vigilante Superman, fighting for truth, justice and the human way, despite his alien origins. When the Collector, using the Brainwyrm vessel, arrived on Earth, it launched the Terminaut Invasion to preserve the New Troy borough of Metropolis in order to "collect" a piece of Earth before it was destroyed by the Multitude. During it's collection, the Collector created the Twenty, a group infected with a psionic infection that would grant them twelfth level intelligence. Opposed by Superman, the Man of Steel jumped to heroics and used the Brainiac AI to repurpose the Collector of Worlds, destroying the Brainwyrm vessel alongside the Collector. This allowed the Brainiac vessel to gain sentiency, learn of the Twenty and plot revenge against Superman for defeating the original Collector. Superman later fought a more personal battle against Xa-Du, during which he trapped the Phantom King in the Phantom Zone. One day, years later, in Metropolis, the skies turned red and the demonic monster of Krypton Doomsday arrived and began it's slaughter. It and Superman both killed each other, although the kryptonian only succumbed to his wounds after placing Doomsday's corpse in the Phantom Zone. As these things were, Doomsday eventually returned to life in the Forbidden Zone of the Phantom Zone and Superman, revived, returned to heroics. Eventually, Lois Lane began to investigate the Twenty. Her investigation eventually led her to Senator Milton Hume who killed her, bestowed her with 12th level intillect to make her a vessel for Brainiac and subsequently revived her. This started a chain reaction which began the Psi War and although Superman managed to make Lois' powers dormant, they did not fade. Eventually, when the entire population of Smallville fell into a coma due to the Brainiac Infection, the deranged collector began to take control of Lois. Brainiac also began to work alongside Xa-Du, contacting him in the Phantom Zone and planning to use the Doomsday Virus to send Superman off planet. To achieve these means, Brainiac began to hack into the systems of the Tower. After the Superman Family and the Batman Family sent Warworld into the Phantom Zone, General Zod and Faora used it's schematics to have Doomsday freed from the Forbidden Zone to weaken the dimensional barriers. Zod then escaped and sent Doomsday back to the Forbidden Zone and prepared to use the forces of Warworld to subjugate Earth. Hoever, Zod and Faora were defeated by Superman and Wonder Woman and shunted back into the Phantom Zone. Xa-Du then once again released Doomsday from the Forbidden Zone, and the Tower, manipulated by Brainiac, released him back into the general populace. Shay Veritas revealed that Superman would be the only one who could defeat Doomsday and that he would have to kill it and despite all his morals, Superman did so, destroying the beast with no meaning by ripping it apart and tearing it in two. Doomsday's death released a large amount of spores, which Superman inhaled to avoid anybody else being infected. Infected Later refusing the Justice League's help, Superman and Krypto retreated to a forest in Alaska where Superman found his rage growing. He then discovered the Fortress of Solitude to no longer recognize his DNA. After realizing he was mutating into a Doomsday-like creature, Superman returned to his Metropolis apartment where he was confronted by his lover, Wonder Woman. Through Diana, Clark managed to gain some semblance of himself and turned himself over to the authorities. Batman, Wonder Woman, Steel and the Ghost Soldier then travelled to the Phantom Zone to discover how Doomsday got loose and captured Xa-Du. In his prison, Superman was met by Lois Lane, whose possession by Brainiac allowed her to manipulate Superman into escaping and destroying Detritus. Lois and Sam Lane then declared Superman the enemy of the state and sent out Metal Zero and the Atomic Skull after him. Lana Lang began investigating the comatose people of Smallville and realized their brains to be sending electrical signals into space. Superman then met with Steel but was attacked by Metal Zero and the Atomic Skull, in the suicide attack, Atomic Skull was subdued but Metal Zero killed himself in releasing a clout of aerosol kryptonite gas into the atmosphere. The kryptonite began to accelerate his transformation, prompting Wonder Woman to summon Amazonian healer Hessia to try and get Superman help. However, Hessia tried to kill Superman, forcing him to leave Earth and be confronted by the Red Lanterns. After almost being pushed to the point where he would have decimated the Lanterns, Wonder Woman stopped the fighting. During this time, Superman began to have mental confrontations with a Doomsday-like side of himself dubbed Superdoom, not so dissimilar to the Multiversal foe he had fought years back. After being approached by Supergirl, Superman went to the other side of the galaxy, to the very solar system Krypton was located in. He found a moon colony of the Char under attack by Hakar, in his anger, Superman brutalized Hakar. Lana and Steel then began to track the electrical signals out into space, and discovered a possessed Lois to have unleashed the Braniac Infection on Metropolis as well, placing the citizens of that city into a similar state as Smallville was in. Lana and Steel were then intercepted by the arriving fleet of the Cyborg Superman, who commanded the Brainiac Horde. As Superdoom saved Lana and Steel, Lois began to morph into a Brainiac-like creature and fight Wonder Woman, reviving Metal Zero to try and do so. After being defeated, Lois and Corben retreated and began to await the Cyborg Superman's fleet. Superdoom then confronted the Cyborg Superman and became aware that the only way to defeat his fellow Kryptonian's army was to give in to the Doomsday Virus. The Battle Confronting the Cyborg Superman outside of Mars, Superdoom won the relatively short battle by ripping of the cyborg's arm. The Justice League, realizing that the Metropolis and Smallville coma zones were directly related to the Brainiac Horde, had Cyborg launch a pre-emptive strike against the Horde. This was combined with a laser grid, however, the Horde easily overpowered and destroyed the entire grid. Brainiac then distributed a network of nodes and spread them out across the Earth. With Earth's defenses taken down, Brainiac began his attack while Lois tried in desperation to regain control of her body, realizing that over three houndred innocents had died with Brainiac's arrival. Simon Baz and Hawkman began to try and take one down in Cambodia, but were interrupted by Superdoom who easily destroyed it. However, due to the Kryptonite in the atmosphere, Superman began giving in more and more to Superdoom, prompting Batman to try and find out a way to get rid of the gaseous compound. The rest of the Justice League, the Teen Titans, Swamp Thing and the Red Lantern Corps began to try and destroy the nodes. As the heroes fought against the Horde, the Cyborg Superman began to create a ringish gate outside of Earth. Steel then confronted the Cyborg Superman, although he was easily overpowered, he was saved by Lana, who gained the Cyborg Superman's ire. Steel then diverted his attention away from the robotic alien and began to save Lana. Batman began to work with Lex Luthor, Harrow, Shay Veritas and Ghost Soldier to try and fix the Kryptonite in the atmosphere. In Gotham City, the Outlaws desperately tried to protect the city but were saved from doom by Superdoom. Batman then realized that despite having the help of Lex Luthor's genius, the two would not be able to remove the Kryptonite. He then resorted to trying to get the help of Xa-Du, the Phantom King. Superdoom then confronted the Martian Manhunter, who managed to temporarily turn him back into Superman. Ghost Soldier then used Baka to try and inspire Superman, and when Superman turned into Superdoom again he focused his rage on Brainiac's hordeships. Arriving in Metropolis, Superdoom managed to confront Brainiac and sever his possession of Lois and give her back control over her body. Lois continued to keep her powers and with them, she and Metal Zero prepared to fight back against Brainiac for his use of them as dolls. When Superdoom started his rage, he was confronted by Wonder Woman which resulted in an immense struggle in Clark's mind between himself and Superdoom. However, Clark was unable to try and stop his rage, fueling Superdoom's mental victory. Harrow then used Xa-Du's mind and found a way, using trillions of tiny portals, to get rid of the Kryptonite and gave the information to Batman and Luthor. While this plan cured Krypto, it also gave Xa-Du more strength, allowing him to escape. Before Wonder Woman was forced to attack her love, Batman managed to pull the Kryptonite out of the atmosphere allowing Clark to gain some mental semblance and throw away the projection of Superdoom in his mind. Gaining more control over himself and looking almost normal, Clark regained control over his body and once again became Superman. His transformation was too late as the Cyborg Superman activated his gate and brought in the full mass of Brainiac's army: the Brainiac Mothership. Krypto then reunited with Superman, who, through inspiration from his pet, Baka and Lois managed to finally believe in himself enough to fight back against the infection. Due to the immense height and power of the Mothership, it managed to block out the sun, thus severely weakening an already weak Superman's powers. It then began to spread the Brainiac Infection to all citizens of Earth, including it's alien members, not protected in preparation of a possible psychic intrusions. Almost right away, forty percent of the population of Gotham City's brainwaves flatlines. Most of the Earth followed soon after. Even Lex Luthor, the smartest man in the unvierse, was overtaken by the infection created by a being whose intelligence ranked on a completely different level. Even the Martian Manhunter was taken, albeit temporarily as his psychic powers allowed him to regain control over his mind. He then checked up on all of the planes flying in the sky and realized that despite the pilots having had gone brain dead, they were still flying. With this, Superman realized that Brainiac wanted the population of Earth alive. Retreating to the Fortress of Solitude, Superman found Wonder Woman, due to her Demigod status, too survived Brainiac's assimilation. Having the Manhunter protect him with a psychic barrier, Superman made his way towards the Sun while Harrow raised an army of ghost soldiers to attack Brainiac. While Harrow's army distracted the collector, Superman absorbed enough solar energy to launch a gigantic heat vision attack on the Mothership, which hit due to Wonder Woman's interference. This gave Batman and Dr. Veritas enough power to open a portal to the Phantom Zone. The two Phantom Zone portals opened then began to converge around each other and suck in the Brainiac Motership, Earth and it's satellites in order to buy enough time to save everybody. However, Brainiac defeated the Ghost Army too quickly and assimilated it's members before terminating the Phantom Zone threat. The mothership, larger than Earth itself, began to fall into the planet forcing Superman and the Manhunter to try and push it away. While Superman prepared for an all out assault against Brainiac, Mongul and Non escaped from the the Phantom Zone. Realizing that escape would be detriment to themselves, the two retreated back into the Zone only to be confronted by Wonder Woman who demanded access to the forces of Warworld. Superman then discovered that the assimilated taken by Brainiac would soon be killed forced himself to give in to the Doomsday Infection and unleash Superdoom on the forces of the mad collector. As Superdoom broke into Brainiac's ship, he was confronted by a mental projection of Brainiac. Supergirl then began to fight the Cyborg Superman, whom Superman was surprised to learn was his own uncle. Wonder Woman then used Warworld and was able to weaken the Mothership's last defenses, allowing Superdoom to confront Brainiac directly, with the psionicist revealing he wished to use the properties of the observer effect to reshape the world. After giving Brainiac a chance, believing some of Vril Dox may still have been active in the monster, Superdoom absorbed Brainiac's power and shed the remnants of the Doomsday Virus. As Superman, Clark Kent realized that Brainiac was and always would be a monster and dragged the psionicist with him into a black hole just as he returned every one's consciousness. Aftermath Almost right after the battle, everyone on the world woke up. The black hole separated Superman and Brainiac, with the mad collector being pulled into the Bleed by the Brainiac God who also made sure to later retrieve Superman. This was the ignition of the event known as Convergence. Category:Conflicts Category:Battles